AND OTHER SKETCHES 291 



imperceptible to the naked eye, but as soon as a boat 

 neared the river bank, the bird would seem to dro}) like 

 a bolt, uttering piercing cries of warning to its mate. 



After several unsuccessful efforts, it was finally de- 

 cided that three should go in the boat, one should land 

 and the others row the boat back to the lake, hoping thus 

 to deceive the birds. This was done on half a dozen 

 occasions, the utmost precaution being taken to prevent 

 either of the birds seeing the third man in his hiding 

 place within reachable distance of the nest, if either of 

 the fish destroyers should return to it, but in every case 

 these efforts were unsuccessful. No matter though the 

 two parties rowed away from the shore, the warning cry 

 of the bird still sounded and neither would return to the 

 tree; but as soon as the third party would re-enter the 

 boat and it left the shore, these birds would return to 

 the tree, sounding a jubilant note. 



An effort was finally made by two boats going together, 

 there being three parties in one boat and two in the 

 other. All five landed on the shore and one of the num- 

 ber, a noted shot on the wing, was left in hiding near the 

 base of the tree in which the nest was. The other four 

 returned to the boats and rowed down the river to the 

 lake. On the way down the birds were plainly seen hang- 

 ing around and one of them dived and caught a fish of 

 considerable size before the eyes of the watchers. It 

 was then considered certain that they would return to 

 their nest, but, instead, they flew to an adjoining tree 

 and regaled themselves with their catch. After waiting 

 two hours and finding that the old birds were not likely 

 to return to the nest, the boats were rowed back, the 

 watcher was taken on board, and in less than ten min- 

 utes after leaving the shore both hawks were back at 

 the nest. 



The question of interest is, was the instinct of these 

 birds sufficient to keep track of the number of persons 

 who went into the woods and detect the absence of one on 

 the return! Several efforts were made to illustrate their 

 power of discernment, and in every case where the party 



